Once there lived a boy called John. One night while John was sleeping, his dead father appeared in his dreams and told him that he would win the loveliest bride in the world.
John left home to see the world. In a church, he saw two men trying to take a dead man out of a coffin because he had died without paying the money he owed to them. John paid the fifty dollars the man had borrowed and asked them to let the man rest in peace.
A little later, along the way, John met a man who became his travelling companion.
After a few days, they reached a town where they heard about the king’s beautiful daughter who used to behead any suitor who failed to answer her three questions correctly. John recognized her as the woman he had seen in his dreams and decided to be her suitor.
Meanwhile, his companion came to know that the princess was under the spell of a wicked sorcerer. With the help of a swan’s wings, the companion made himself invisible and went to the princess. He overheard the questions and answers that the sorcerer told the princess to ask. Then he beat up the sorcerer and beheaded him with his sword. He went to John and told him all the correct answers.
The next day, John gave the correct replies to the princess’s questions and freed her from the sorcerer’s spell. They were married and lived happily ever after. In the meantime, the travelling companion revealed himself as the dead man in the coffin. That was how he showed his gratitude to John.